Talking Points
- Japanese department store sales chalk up yet another weak month
- Signs of domestic demand revival are hard to spot
- The Yen had already shown some signs of strength, however
The Japanese Yen was a little stronger against the US Dollar on Tuesday, with the day’s only significant local economic data passing the currency by.
Tokyo department store sales were revealed to have fallen by 4.4% on-year in October, a greater slide than the previous month’s 3.4% fall. Nationwide the picture was a little better, but still gloomy. Sales fell 3.9%, which was a lesser fall than September’s 5%.
Overall sales have now fallen for twelve straight months, according to the Japan Department Stores Association. The Association has said that the drop is in part due to a fall in spending by foreign tourists, but the government in Tokyo will still worry that its strenuous, long efforts to spur domestic demand are yielding such disappointing fruit.
The data held little to distract currency markets from a day of unusual Yen pep against the US Dollar. The currency has not been immune to the “Trump trade” rise in the greenback which has been in place since the Republican nominee’s shock win in the US presidential election earlier this month.
The Yen has since fallen for two straight weeks, and seemed set to weaken into a third.
However, a large earthquake in northern Japan saw the currency rally a little. Wire reports suggested that there had been some repatriation of funds seeking haven, a process not uncommon when natural disaster threatens Japan.
USD/JPY was steady at 110.77 after the department-store numbers, from 110.65 just before. However, the greenback has retreated from the near six-month high of 111.36 set on Monday. It got as low as 110.27 earlier on Tuesday.
Modest fightback? USD/JPY action in Asia Tuesday
--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
